6th Grade Information and Updates
6th Grade Academic Updates
Please reach out to your student's teacher with specific questions regarding content or your student's progress.
Science
This quarter in Earth Science, we are wrapping up our mini-unit on atoms, states of matter, and physical and chemical changes. Next, we’ll launch our new unit on geologic processes, where we’ll explore the essential question: “Where is the best place to store nuclear waste?”
As we dive into this topic, we’ll study the fossil record and geologic time, helping us understand how Earth’s surface has changed over billions of years. To bring our learning to life, we’ll take part in a walking museum field trip to the Dinosaur Museum on 11/13, where we’ll see real-world examples of Earth’s history in action.
Math
Advanced Math
In Advanced Math, students will be learning to divide fractions and decimals, then move into expression and equations.
6th Grade Math
In Math, students will be use their knowledge about ratios to find unit rate and converting various units (for example, feet to inches or milliliters to liters). They will also work toward understanding percentages. In the later half of the semester, students will begin to divide fractions.
Language Arts
Chamberlin: Our culminating project for our first unit Stories of Change is writing a personal narrative. Students are engaging in the writing process to write a story about a change in their life and what they learned from that event. We will start unit two The Power of Change by reading the novel Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech and engaging in literacy analysis.
Anderson: The students will write a personal narrative and then begin reading the novel "Walk Two Moons". They will study the text with character analysis, how setting affects the plot, and the theme. We will pair non-fiction and poetry with the novel.
McElduff: In Language Arts this quarter, we are focusing on analyzing literature and writing literary analysis. Students will compare and contrast the novel Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech with the Pixar movie Up. We’ll begin by studying the movie together to practice identifying themes, character development, and evidence to support ideas. Then, students will transfer these skills to their reading and writing.
Our writing focus will be on informational pieces, including summaries, compare-and-contrast paragraphs, and literary analysis essays that use textual evidence to support claims.
A Note About Practice at Home 
We don’t officially assign homework, but a little extra practice can go a long way! If your student isn’t quite earning a “3” in Language Arts, spending just 20 minutes a night can make a huge difference.
All students have free access to some awesome tools:
Learning Ally for great audiobooks
Quill for grammar and conventions practice
Freckle Focus Skills for reading and literary standards
Need more ideas or resources? Reach out anytime—I’m happy to help!
Social Studies
In Social Studies, students will be diving in-depth into a unit about governments around the world. We will be investigating the lives of the citizens who live in each type and what the founding principles are of each form.